The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State, on Thursday, affirmed the victory of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and his deputy, Dr Olayide Adelami, in the November 16, 2024, governorship election.

However, the candidate of the ADC in the election, Mr Adeyemi Nejo, has vowed to proceed to the Supreme Court to challenge the appellate court verdict.

“The dismissal of the ADC’s appeal by the Court of Appeal is not the end of the road for the ADC.

“The party will certainly explore its constitutional right of Appeal to the Supreme Court in line with Section 233 (2) (e) (iv) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

“Consequently, we repose high confidence in the Supreme Court to interrogate and do justice to the petition of the ADC, which resulted from the irregularities and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022, which plagued the election and the subsequent declaration of Lucky Aiyedatiwa as governor,” he said.

The Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr Leye Igbabo, said, “We will need to study the content of the judgment before we decide on the next line of action.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress the winner of the election, having polled a total of 366,781 votes to defeat candidates of other parties in the poll.

Apart from the PDP, the Social Democratic Party, the Action Alliance, the Allied Peoples’ Movement, and the ADC also filed petitions against Aiyedatiwa’s victory.

The parties challenged the result at the state election petitions tribunal, alleging that the election was characterised by irregularities and electoral malpractices at many polling units.

In its ruling on June 4, 2025, the tribunal struck out the petitions for non-compliance with the electoral law.

Not satisfied, the aggrieved parties approached the appellate court to challenge the tribunal’s verdict.

In a judgment delivered on Thursday, the three-man panel comprising Justice Nimpar Yargata, Justice K.I. Amadi and Justice I.M. Sani unanimously struck out the appeals, one after the other, for not substantiating the claims of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

The appellate court also held that the appellants failed to prove their allegations against the election, as they did not show how their claims affected the election in the various polling units, wards and local government areas where the election took place.

The appellate court also ruled that the appellants abandoned their cases as there were no credible witnesses called at the tribunal to back up their claims of widespread irregularities in the various polling units.

To this end, the court affirmed the judgments of the tribunal on all the cases and declared Aiyedatiwa and Adelami as the elected governor and deputy governor of the state, respectively.

It also awarded a sum of N1.5m against the appellants.

Reacting, Aiyedatiwa described the judgment as a welcome development, commending the justices for painstakingly going through the cases and delivering detailed, unanimous judgments.

He expressed gratitude to God and the people of Ondo State, adding that the judgment had reaffirmed the will of the people.

He said: “I give glory to Almighty God who orchestrated this journey from the beginning and used the good people of Ondo State.

“Over 366,000 residents gave us their mandate on November 16 last year to continue governing this state as the seventh democratically elected governor.

“That mandate was validated by the tribunal and has now been reaffirmed by the Appeal Court.

“While some political parties tried to overturn the people’s decision through the backdoor, the judiciary has fulfilled its role by upholding the choice made by the majority of voters across the 18 local government areas of the state.”

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ADC’s membership card was officially presented to Melaye in his office by leaders of the Kogi State chapter of the party.

Dino Melaye, a former Kogi West Senator, has formally joined the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

ADC’s membership card was officially presented to Melaye in his office by leaders of the Kogi State chapter of the party.

The former lawmaker disclosed this in a video he posted on his X handle on Thursday.

The membership card was presented to Melaye by the ADC leader in Kogi State, Kingsley Temitope alongside, the state Secretary, local government chairman, secretary, Ward Chairman, and Secretary.

Donning an attire with the inscription of ADC, Temitope said, “I present to Distinguish senator Dino Melaye the membership card of African Democratic Congress.

“He is a full member and has started contributing to the party even before we presented him with the membership card.”

Responding, Melaye wrote: “SDM fully ADC.”

SDM fully ADC pic.twitter.com/ZtytRFa6ly

— Senator Dino Melaye. (SDM) (@_dinomelaye) July 31, 2025

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A former presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Nicolas Felix, has dismissed the newly formed opposition coalition under the African Democratic Congress as no threat to President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election bid.

Speaking in Suleja on Thursday during the distribution of thousands of litres of fuel to Nigerians, Felix expressed confidence that Tinubu would win the 2027 presidential election with no less than 15 million votes.

On July 1st, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate Peter Obi, APC’s 2023 presidential aspirant Rotimi Amaechi, and other opposition figures launched the ADC as a unified opposition platform to challenge President Tinubu in the 2027 election.

Reacting, Felix maintained that while there’s nothing wrong with opposition leaders forming a coalition, he believes they will eventually fall apart just as easily as they came together.

He said, “In a democracy, you must have opposition. We are not threatened. They are out there campaigning. So far, we have not heard anything they want to do anyway.

“So for us as a party, I don’t see any threat here. There is no threat in this coalition. We want them to coalesce. Like I said the other day, they will gather, but they will scatter because they have nothing to offer. Their intention is not pure. Their motive is not pure.

“As far as we are concerned and the APC, come 2027, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is going to have nothing less than 15 million votes. We know that is going to happen. So there is no threat from the ADC or whatever coalition. Let them come. When the time comes for campaigns, we are going to roll out the scorecard of Mr President.

“Didn’t you watch on TV this morning students on campuses singing, celebrating with joy, who just received the NELFund grant, over N100 billion, with no interest, by the way. I lived in America for 21 years; I had never heard that happen. Over N100 billion given to 600,000 students. So these 600,000 students, they will vote. Their families will vote because they know what it takes to go to school. So we are excited, and we know come 2027, it is going to be a walkover for us.”

He stated that his decision to regularly distribute free fuel to Nigerians is his way of supporting the president’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The ex-presidential aspirant stated, “We are giving out free fuel to the community. As you know, this is our Renewed Hope season. We are just doing this to put smiles on the faces of the people.

“There is no other motivation, but we just want to give back to the community. We did this in 2023 in Edo State, and we did it here also, and we decided to come back here to make the people happy. As you can see, they are all smiling. We are giving them hope.

“This outreach is for everybody, but we know those who need it more. So, I am even more excited seeing the Okada riders because we believe, you know, I would be surprised if I see a G-Waggon here coming to take free fuel. This is more for the Okada and Keke riders. So anybody that comes, we will be able to, you know, just put smiles on their face. We are just giving back. That is what it is all about.”

Also speaking, APC Deputy National Women Leader Zainab Ibrahim stated that the party is pushing for sthe wift passage of the Special Seats Bill currently before the National Assembly, calling it a potential game changer for women in Nigeria.

She noted that, for the first time, the Ministry of Women Affairs has received over ₦100 billion in budgetary allocation to pursue its key goals and assured that Nigerian women will stand firmly behind the president in 2027.

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